Three is a Crowd?: Acquiring Portuguese in a Trilingual Environment

346 Pages·2006·1.34 MB·English

by  Madalena Cruz-Ferreira

Three is a Crowd?
Child Language and Child Development: Multilingual–Multicultural Perspectives
Series Editor:Professor Li Wei,University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Editorial Advisors:
Professor Gina Conti-Ramsden,University of Manchester, UK
Professor Kevin Durkin,The University of Western Australia
Professor Susan Ervin-Tripp,University of California, Berkeley, USA
Professor Jean Berko Gleason,Boston University, USA
Professor Brian MacWhinney,Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Children are brought up in diverse yet specific cultural environments; they are
engaged from birth in socially meaningful and appropriate activities; their
development is affected by an array of social forces. This book series is a response to
the need for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary documentation of up-to-date
research on child language and child development from a multilingual and
multicultural perspective. Publications from the series will cover language
development of bilingual and multilingual children, acquisition of languages other
than English, cultural variations in child rearing practices, cognitive development of
children in multicultural environments, speech and language disorders in bilingual
children and children speaking languages other than English, and education and
healthcare for children speaking non-standard or non-native varieties of English. The
series will be of particular interest to linguists, psychologists, speech and language
therapists, and teachers, as well as to other practitioners and professionals working
with children of multilingual and multicultural backgrounds.
Recent Books in the Series
Culture-Specific Language Styles: The Development of Oral Narrative and Literacy
Masahiko Minami
Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children
D. Kimbrough Oller and Rebecca E. Eilers (eds)
Phonological Development in Specific Contexts: Studies of Chinese-Speaking
Children
Zhu Hua
Bilingual Children’s Language and Literacy Development
Roger Barnard and Ted Glynn (eds)
Developing in Two Languages: Korean Children in America
Sarah J. Shin
Other Books of Interest
Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
Colin Baker
LearningtoRequestinaSecondLanguage:AStudyofChildInterlanguagePragmatics
Machiko Achiba
Third Language Learners: Pragmatic Production and Awareness
Maria Pilar Safont Jordà
Language Acquisition: The Age Factor (2nd edition)
David Singleton and Lisa Ryan
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Multilingual Matters, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall,
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http://www.multilingual-matters.com
CHILD LANGUAGE AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 6
Series Editor: Li Wei, University of Newcastle
Three is a Crowd?
Acquiring Portuguese
in a Trilingual Environment
Madalena Cruz-Ferreira
“So again the seeds of things are of much latent virtue,
and yet of no use except in their development.”
Francis Bacon (1620),Novum Organon, 1.121
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD
Clevedon • Buffalo • Toronto
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena
Three is a Crowd? Acquiring Portuguese in a Trilingual Environment
Madalena Cruz-Ferreira.
Child Language and Child Development: 6
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Multilingualism in children. 2. Language acquisition. 3. Language and culture.
4. Portuguese language–Acquisition. I. Title. II. Series.
P115.2.C78 2005
306.44'6'09469–dc22 2005014803
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1-85359-838-0 / EAN 978-1-85359-838-8(hbk)
Multilingual Matters Ltd
UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7HH.
USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA.
Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada.
Copyright © 2006 Madalena Cruz-Ferreira.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
Typeset by Datapage Ltd.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the Cromwell Press Ltd.
To my children,
for showing me how three languages can be managed
so smoothly within a family, and for putting up with
a data-collecting mother throughout so many years.
To Peter,
with whom a 'different language' was never a problem.
For Tio Zé,
in memoriam.

Contents
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x
1 Preview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
What: Layout and Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
How: Data and Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Why: Purposes of this Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Part 1: Becoming Multilingual
2 Issues in Bilingualism and Bilingual Acquisition. . . . . . . . . . . .13
Bilingual and Monolingual Lingualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Bilingualism versus dual monolingualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Mixed speech and bilingual fluency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
The language(s) of bilinguals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
The ‘Buffet Effect’ in Bilingual Acquisition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
3 The Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Family Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
A Few Issues in Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
The sibling effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Developmental feature or idiosyncrasy?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
4 Data Collection and Analytical Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
The Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Modes of data collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Choices in data collection: limitations
and purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Analytical Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
The choice of target forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Format of examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Phonetic transcription. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Intonational transcription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
5 Speaking Languages, and Talking about Them . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Signalling Different Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Refuse to accept one particular language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Use carriers of language-specific prosody. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Make each language maximally different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Use any language-specific device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
vii
viii ThreeisaCrowd?
Referring to Language(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Use the language to refer to it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Use speakers of each language as symbols
for each language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Make use of translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Use the name of the language, or the word
‘language’ itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
Discussing Language and Language Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Characterising language varieties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Commenting on non-native uses of language. . . . . . . . . . . .91
Part 2: Making Sense of Portuguese
6 Shaping Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Laying the Foundation for Sounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Practising the Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Mastering intonational fluency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
The basics of intonational choices
and beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Speaking in Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Sentence fluency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Filling in the fluent whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
The prosodic role of fillers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
7 Probing for Constituency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Words in Inventories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
The word ‘word’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Child inventories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Child Vocabularies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Passive vocabulary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Active vocabulary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Words in Context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Multi-word meanings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Compounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
8 Probing for Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Words and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Word referents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Word meanings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
Strategies to Approach Word Meanings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Semantic manipulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Querying around words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
Replacive words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Contents ix
Part 3: Acquiring a Third Language
9 A New Language: Intruder or Guest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
Learning Languages for Communicative Purposes. . . . . . . . .210
Learning Languages for Curricular Purposes. . . . . . . . . . . . .217
Attitudes Towards the Children’s Multilingualism. . . . . . . . .224
From Adults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
From Peers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228
10 Language Input and Language Management in
a Multilingual Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Who Speaks What to Whom, When, Where and Why . . . . . .233
One person (cid:2) which language? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
/
The multilingual nature of language
interaction in the family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
The Children’s Apportioning of Linguistic Space
among their Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
The languages of the home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Making a home for a new language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
Defining language territories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258
Language dominance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268
11 Balancing Culture and Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Languages and Cultural Mindsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Precursors to Socialisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
Cultural Idiomacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288
Unravelling cultural roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289
Biculturalism and cultural modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .291
Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
Identity and cultural camouflage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Identity and cultural shelter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
12 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300
Appropriating Language: Acquisitional Strategies . . . . . . . . .301
Make do with what is available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .302
One thing at a time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303
To learn how to use something, use it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304
The Role of Acquisitional Strategies in Child
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306
Three is a Crowd? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330
Acknowledgements
My greatest debt goes to Prof. Li Wei, who first persuaded me to write
this book. Along the many ups and downs in the writing itself, I always
had the reassurance of his timely encouragement and his judicious
advice, which were there for me, any time.
Thank you for believing in this project, and for believing that I could
bring it to port.
Ialsoowemygratitudetothemanyextrainformantswhocontributed
to this study. Several children andadults outside of the corefamily took
partinexchangesinvolvingthethreechildreninthestudy,orarenamed
bythem.Permissiontousethedataandnamesofallparticipantswho,at
times unwittingly, found themselves involved in recording sessions was
duly requested and obtained, from children, their parents and other
adults. Their role in the children’s life is introduced where relevant for
the discussion of the data. Particularly in what concerns the children’s
playmates, they did know that they might be recorded,but they did not
know where or when.
Toallofthem,mysincerestthanks,fortheirwillingnesstoparticipate
and for allowing me to quote them by their real names.
MCF
Singapore, December 2004
x